sand story
by tigerlily101
Summary: FemGaaraxNaruto what if Gaara is a girl (No romance till later chapters)
1. Birth

Naruto Fan Fiction

A/N: I don't own Naruto; it belongs to

Prologue: Birth

If you are a parent, and you want to be loved, you have to deserve it." ― Jodi Picoult

The wail of a newborn child filled the cold desert night as a moon shone brightly over the village hidden in the sand; Suna. The Kazekage, its trusted leader created a weapon that night; the night his third child was born. A dark shadow fell over that child's future as its fate was sealed by her father.

The room was dim, lit only by a small lamp in the corner. A hospital bed, with a sweaty woman panting as she lay upon it looking as if she were in extreme pain, filled the back of the room; the rest taken over by a large table. An ancient looking teapot was sitting innocently on the table as if waiting to be used in a Childs' tea party. Three people were the only witnesses to the early birth, an elderly medic, the Kazekage, and the Kazekages' wife; mother of the baby.

"She is premature Kazekage-sama, but she is the most compatible." Stated an elderly woman wearing traditional desert clothes; her face was wrinkled giving her a kind grandmother look, if not for the cold calculating gleam in her eyes she could have been seen as a kind person. She gruffly held the small baby, in the palm of her hand. A mop of crimson red hair the only thing visible of the newborn girl in question.

A young man looked down at the child with a worried look. He stood stiffly to the side as if trying to stay calm and cold, but failing pitifully at it when worry showed clearly in his posture.

"Are you sure she could handle it? She looks very feeble." The man said stating his deepest worry. The older woman narrowed her eyes in annoyance, mistaking his concern for him doubting her medical skills.

"Yes I'm very sure." She elderly woman answered confident in herself and her decision.

"Very well then, you can begin" Ordered the man with finality in his words.

The old woman nodded and turned around she placed the baby girl onto the already prepared sealing a circle next to a teapot covered in intricate seals that colored it onyx black. She then started to rapidly do hand seals as the small baby's stomach started to glow with an ethereal light. The baby squirmed, its face a mask of pain and cried out as if the glow was hurting her. The man tried to rush to his daughter's side but a weak call from behind him where the bed was placed made him stop in place.

"Let me see her face… let me see my daughter's face." Was the weakly panted request.

The Kazekage whipped around to gaze frantically at the young woman who was quickly dying from her premature child birthing. "Karura! Are you okay?!" The Kazekage asked, even though the answer was very obvious.

"No she's not. She's slowly dying from blood loss." The elderly woman bluntly answered for her. The elder wiped the sweat that had accumulated from the effort of using powerful jutsu's off of her forehead and grimly stated "The sealing was successful Kazekage-sama. Your youngest child and the shukaku have been sealed together." A shiver of repulsion went up the Kazekages' spine at the name of the sand demon.

He looked down at his feet a crestfallen look on his face as his youngest child was handed to his dying wife. It seemed as if his life was being torn to shreds, all because of his foolish decision, oh how he wished he could take it back. Karura gazed lovingly at her redheaded baby her eyes gently praising the newborn beauty. "What a small feeble child. This child's name is Gaara. A demon that loves and fights only for itself. Be strong my Gaara."

And with that said Karura closed her heavy eyelids as if a burden had been taken off of her shoulders and breathed out her final words to her cursed daughter "I love you."

Beep…

The sound of a door slamming closed echoed throughout the dark and quiet house. Two children a girl about three years of age and a boy of two years turned quickly to look at who had come in with huge identical grins spread across their young faces.

"Uncle!" exclaimed the youngest child who had brown eyes and shaggy light brown hair. He sat on the couch in the living room in direct view of the door next to his elder sister. The girl had light blue eyes and sandy blonde hair put up in four messy pony tails. She and her brother had been home alone for quite a long time diligently waiting for their mother to come home after she and their uncle had quickly rushed to the hospital 'for an emergency' their uncle had said.

The girl's grin shrinked a little as she realized it was not her mother who had come in but her uncle. She looked behind her uncle with curious blue eyes as her four sandy pony tails bounced a little. Sadly she didn't see the woman who she resembled so much standing behind her uncle with a kind smile that normally adorned her face.

"Uncle where is mommy?" the two year old boy asked innocently when he realized his mother was nowhere to be seen.

Their uncle sighed and looked down at the bundle in his arms with a small smile that had a hint of hate in it directed at it carefully hidden from the children; although the sharp three year old caught this wondering, '_Why is he hateful towards that bundle?'_

Their uncle lowered his arms so the two children could see that the bundle was really a small redheaded baby girl, so small that If it hadn't been moving the children would have mistaken it for a doll.

While the two year old boy remained oblivious cooing over the redheaded baby, the three year olds mind was racing. '_Why would he hate this baby? It makes no sense!'_

"Is this our new sister?" Kankuro asked.

"Yes, her name is Gaara. She's still very young so be gentle with her. Okay?" Yashamaru said giving a slight smile that looked more like a grimace than anything else.

"Uncle I thought mommy said our sister wasn't arriving for another month or so. Also, where is mommy?" inquired the three year old who at times was smarter and more perspective than the average adult and at other times, when it's convenient for her, is about as smart as a rock.

He sighed once more as he placed the baby next to the two year old boy who was jumping up and down on the couch, trying to see his newest sibling better crying out "Lemme see! Lemme see!" he calmed down when the small baby was in his sights right next to him. He smiled softly as only an older brother would at the baby who was peacefully sleeping, her fuzzy red hair sticking out all over the place.

"Well?" Temari asked impatiently waiting for her uncle to reply.

_I might as well tell them bluntly as possible, they hopefully might not understand if I don't sugar coat it._ Yashamaru thought worried about their reaction to the unexpected death of their mother.

"Temari, Kankuro I'm afraid your mother will not be coming home; there were some complications with the child birth. Gaara was born prematurely and your mother died from loss of blood." He said sadly addressing the two toddlers.

Unfortunately for him Temari understood perfectly well. Her eyes showed the shameful pain she was feeling so she lowered them to the floor hiding her crestfallen face in shadows. A diamond like tear could be seen falling to the ground as she quickly shook her head as if trying to shake the sadness off. She heaved a deep breath and promptly turned around and ran up the stairs her feet pounding the floor as she ran to her room so she could hide from the loss of her mother.

A young Kankuro looked up from cooing over his younger sister as he heard his older sister run out of the room. He looked questioningly at his uncle hoping for an answer but none came as his uncle only sighed and glared at the small baby girl thinking _what am I going to do with you?_


	2. Betrayal

A/N: I don't own anything

**Shukaku speaking**

_Human thoughts_

Chapter 1: Betrayal

Sometimes, kids want you to hurt the way they hurt." ― Mitch Albom

Kids' hearts are malleable, but once they get broken it's hard to get them back the way they were."

― Haruki Murakami

The full moon shone clearly in the night sky surrounded by bright stars, the kind of bright you only find on the crisp desert nights.

The moonlight washed over a lone figure huddled on the side of a roof. The girl looked around to be six years old and had long red hair that flowed gently down her back. Her eyes were a light teal surrounded by a black boarder showing that she barely slept. But her most shocking characteristic; especially for one who lived in the desert, was her flawless pale skin. The girl was hunched over trying to hide the tears that ran down her face from the empty night.

_Why? Why does everyone hate me? Only me!_ The girl thought, frustrated about what had happened earlier that day.

_Flashback _

A girl sat sadly on a swing looking longingly at the other children play ball.

"What are we gonna do now?" shouted one of the children as the ball flew up to one of the roofs getting stuck.

The girl saw this and did something unique. Slowly sand gathered the ball up and floated it into the hands of the redheaded girl.

But when the children spotted this they ran, afraid of the girl their parents had said was a monster.

"No wait! Don't go!" she cried her eyes longing for companionship but receiving none as the other children ran when she got too close.

"Monster!"

"Stay away!" They yelled out at her.

Following her will a small stream of sand shot forward aimed at a young girl her own age, she only wanted a friend! But before it could reach its target it was stopped by her uncle, the only person who loved her, appearing in front of it blocking the little girl from what could've been a fatal wound.

_End of flashback_

So caught up in her reminiscing she never noticed the ninja lurking in the shadows watching her cry with something akin to pity. '_Forgive me Gaara-sama, but this is the only way._

Suddenly sand shot up to protect her from a kunai that whizzed through the air aimed at her heart.

_Why only me! _Her hand clutched the space directly above her heart as if it was hurting.

For the first time in her life she consciously hurt another with her sand, other times she had hurt people had been all by accident. She willed it to slash out in the direction the kunai had come from. Hearing a thud she looked back to see an unidentified jounin lying on the roof behind her, a mask concealing his identity. He was barely alive and covered in his blood, from the numerous cuts and gashes the sand had made.

For some unknown reason she was possessed to lift the mask off the assassin that came to kill her; but when she did she immediately regretted doing so, because lying there slowly dying from the wounds she had made was her most precious person, her uncle Yashamaru; the only person that loved her.

"Why?" She questions her voice agonized by emotional pain.

"I…was ordered…to assassinate…you..." Her uncle explained panting with the effort it took to talk.

"…by your father…Kazekage-sama."

_By my father? _The girl was sickened by the thought that her father could do something so terrible to her, but hopeful that her uncle didn't have a choice because he was ordered, it was his duty to do as her father ordered.

"Why would father do such a thing?"

"When you were born… the sand… Shukaku was sealed… inside of you. You have been…watched over as an experiment… but now… you have been deemed… unsuccessful and… dangerous to the… village. We couldn't let that… happen." Her uncle explained harshly.

"So then you had no choice. Father made you do it?" she asked hope shining in her tear filled eyes.

"No. I did receive… orders to kill you… but I could have refused… them." He paused as Gaara processed this. "I've always... resented you deep down… for taking the life of… my beloved sister. I tried to think of you… as her last memento… but I couldn't… she never wanted you… from that moment on I've been… carrying emotional scars… she gave you your name hoping… you would live by her belief… that you lived forever as… long as you love only for yourself and fight only… for your sake. But she didn't give… you your name out of love… but in the hope you would carry out her grudge to the world… you were never loved!"

With that he pulled the zipper down on his jounin vest revealing hundreds of paper bombs wrapped around his torso. "Please die…" was the last words her uncle uttered as the bombs exploded ripping his body apart and stealing his life.

Gaara wanted to die; she really did but, sadly as the smoke cleared a dome of sand was revealed protecting an unharmed Gaara from the blast.

In her despair she used all her will to mark her forehead with the kanji for love as a reminder to never love another so she wouldn't feel the pain in her heart ever again.

_I get it now; I'll only love for myself and fight only for my sake. But… what should I live for? I need to have a purpose or else it'll be like I don't exist._

**I'll give you a purpose.** A voice rumbled from the recess of her mind, it grated against her head compelling her to listen. **It's simple really; just kill those who come after your own life; feed me their blood and I shall give you power and love.**

And so from that day on she killed for the beast that resided in her mind.


	3. What's that smell?

Chapter 2: what's that smell?

"True love is like ghosts, whom few have seen, but everyone talks about."

The whooshing of something flying through the air filled the huge forest as four people nimbly sped from tree branch to tree branch. In the front there was a man older than the other three; he wore standard Suna shoes with bandages wrapped around his ankles, grey pants and a grey long sleeved shirt under a sand colored vest; on his head he wore a turban looking thing with a part of it hanging down to cover half of his face, lastly on his forehead sat a headband proudly stating where his loyalty stood.

There were two girls behind him, the first was a blonde with her hair up in four messy pony tails, her head band was tied around her neck and she was wearing a white kimono that stopped at her upper thighs and strapped to her back was a huge metal fan. The other girl was shorter with waist length straight hair that fanned out behind her as she skipped from tree to tree. She wore a black short sleeved shirt that stopped above her belly button with a netted shirt under it covering her stomach, on her right arm the netted shirt stopped halfway down her arm, and on her left the shirt sleeve was replaced by a netted fingerless glove. She had black capris and black sandals. But on her back was a sand colored gourd strapped on by a leather harness; on that harness carelessly hung a headband just like the two others.

At the back of the small group was a boy a year younger than the blonde girl. He wore a full black outfit. On his head sat a hood with cat ears, weather for decoration or by accident, nobody will ever know. On the hood sewn on was his headband, but the most fascinating thing was that he wore purple face paint. Also on his back was a strangely human shaped figure wrapped in clothe like a mummy.

The red haired girl, youngest of them all, tilted her head to the right as her superior senses picked up the noise of people chatting away in the village a mile or so ahead of them. **Well, well, well, what do we have here? New humans to kill? Hahaha!** Gaara winced as the loud voice screeched inside of her head at the prospect of new victims to satisfy its blood lust. But she welcomed the demon, seeing as how she had not heard from it since entering the huge forest they were currently traveling through; it got very empty inside her head when there was no demon throwing out side comment at everything and everyone.

Soon the village came into view and her sensei, Baki, stopped her and her two_ '_companions' at the gate that surrounded the great village hidden in the leaves, Konoha.

"I will go to sign us up for the chunin exams at the Hokages' building, while…" But that was all she heard as sand started to swirl around her and to her other companions she disappeared, but she quickly reappeared on a nearby rooftop unbeknownst to the others.

At first they anxiously looked around the busy street, but when no screams of terror were heard they calmed a bit and Baki continued to explain their instructions, with Gaara eavesdropping in.

"Okay as I was saying you go looking around, get to know your enemies and the layout of the village." And with that Baki jumped onto a rooftop and sped to the tower with the kanji for fire painted on it. Just as Gaara got up and turned to follow her sensei to get a look at the Hokage the wind changed direction so that it was coming from the direction her companions had went and a strange yet enticing scent filled her powerful nose.

Filled with curiosity she whipped around and went to follow her two other companions, her siblings that she felt nothing but the normal cold hatred she felt towards everyone else.

_What is the meaning of this scent, Shukaku? _Gaara questioned the demon that resided in her. But alas she got no reply; the Demon only stirred briefly as if it was going to answer but then changing its mind and going back to napping; the only thing it did other than demand blood and sometimes converse with her when it became too bored.

_Well are you going to answer me or not_? Gaara snapped at the demon. Shukaku only chuckled and replied mysteriously '**You'll have to figure that one out yourself kid**.'

_That was no help at all._ Grumbled Gaara to herself. Gaara jumped off the roof she had been perched on and went to trail behind her siblings, making sure to stay far enough away so as not to be noticed.

Soon the scent became more powerful. A little boy, probably six ran into the alley her siblings were walking through, the boy was wearing a blue scarf around his neck and green goggles atop his shaggy brown hair. The boy, not looking where he was going ran into Kankuro gaining his attention. "Ouch! That hurt you brat!" he exclaimed.

Gaara scoffed. _If that's all it takes to hurt him he must be really weak. _She looked at her brother distastefully as he made such a big deal over it. Then as Kankuro lifted the boy up by the scarf around his neck five other people entered the alleyway.

There was a timid pink haired Genin and two more children the same age as the boy hiding behind her. And lastly a blonde Genin with shining blue eyes and whisker like marks on his tanned cheeks. He wore a blue and orange jumpsuit with his headband placed properly on his forehead. Just from a glance she could tell he was a loud, blunt, and happy person, the kind who didn't take kindly to others who hurt his friends and would do anything for their happiness. She could tell he wore his emotions on his sleeve, never hiding them from anybody.

When the wind shifted towards her she realized the strange scent was coming from the blonde boy who was currently yelling at her brother to let the little kid go. When Kankuro refused she became annoyed _'Stupid brother; already making a scene.'_

Her brother raised his fist at the little boy and she decided it was time to stop him; she appeared on a tree limb upside down getting ready to intervene so Kankuro wouldn't mess with their mission, in where she was guaranteed lots of blood. But she was distracted once again as out of the corner of her eye she saw the blonde's nose flare and he turned to stare at her.

She looked at the boy straight on and locked her light teal eyes with his shining blue eyes, and in that moment something happened, it was as if he could see everything about her, from her past to her thoughts, but at the same time she saw the shining happiness fade and his true colors were shown, it appeared she had made the wrong conclusion about him, under the thin layer of happiness and innocence was an endless black pit of sadness and loneliness.

Their eyes were locked for what felt like hours, but in reality it was only a few minutes.

Then the moment was gone and she could no longer see the black pit of sadness in his eyes, just the happy cover. With a start she realized the little boy was no longer in Kankuro's hands but on the ground pulling on the blonde boys pants to gain his attention.

She glanced at her idiotic brother noticing he was yelling at a black duck butt. _'At least I know I'm not the only crazy person in this family.'_ She thought with a sweat drop. But then the duck butt shifted and she realized it was a boy, he had black hair and eyes and he was wearing a blue shirt with white pants. The boy was smugly tossing a rock up and down in his hand.

She narrowed her eyes to glare at him '_I don't like him.'_

**Then let's kill him; he seems relatively strong enough to at least give me a bit of a challenge.**

"Get lost!" snarled the duck butt.

Gaara realized all the girls but her, even her sister, were swooning over his every word as if he were a god. She was disgusted by it, not seeing why all the girls seemed to like him; his entire personality seemed to shout 'I'm too good for you.'

Gaara looked down at her siblings when Temari shouted out in surprise "Hey you're going to use Karasu?"

'_Stupid brother, he's going to get us in trouble and ruin our mission, might as well stop it before it gets to that point.'_

"Kankuro; stop it." Gaara ordered in her coldest voice.

Everyone in the alley froze and looked up at her with shocked expressions wondering how she could've gotten so close without them noticing. As her siblings processed her being there their expressions went from shocked and confused to pure terror.

"You're an embarrassment to our village; getting so riled up over a bunch of kids. Why do you think we even came to this village?" she said in a monotone yet disapproving voice.

"G-gaara! They started it!" Accused Kankuro in a feeble attempt to divert her attention.

Tired of his lies she glared at him calmly stating "Shut up or I'll kill you." making him shake and clamp his mouth shut in fear.

Everyone stared at her in awe as she made the once cocky Nin look like he was about to wet his pants.

Trying to keep a friendly appearance up, however damaged it was, she turned to look at duck butt and stated in her monotone voice "I'm sorry for this inconvenience." And with that she disappeared in a whirl wind of sand only to quickly reappear on the alleyway below.

"We got here a bit too early; but we didn't come here to play around. Temari, Kankuro… let's go."

"Wait!" shouted the duck butt; who she just realized had gotten down from his perch on the tree.

"Why are you here?" he questioned looking at Gaara. She had no intention of telling the arrogant prick anything so she let Temari explain that they were Genin from Suna and were here to take the Chunin exams.

Still looking at Gaara he asked "What's your name?"

"Who me?" Temari asked a light blush on her cheeks as she hoped he would take an interest in her.

Gaara scoffed on the inside at her hopeful expression. _To be swooned so easily._

"No; the one with the gourd." He replied almost as coldly as Gaara spoke.

Gaara weighed the pros and cons of answering his questions; finally she decided to answer him, even though he had already heard her brother say her name.

"Gaara of the desert." She said her full name for emphasis. "I also wish to know your name." she said pointedly looking at the boy in orange.

Duck butt thinking she was speaking to him smirked and replied "Sasuke Uchiha."

Gaara almost rolled her eyes at how arrogant he could be. "No, not you the one in orange." She replied haughtily.

For a second duck butts smug smirk faltered, but it was quickly replaced with a look of disdain; while on the other hand realizing his chance at glory the blonde loudly replied "Naruto Uzumaki! I'm going to Hokage one day!"

Her siblings gaped at her, while they were not unaccustomed to her asking for the name of one whom she had deemed worthy as prey, she never asked the name of someone like him, a loud obnoxious brat, that most likely couldn't hold his own in a fight.

Gaara almost smiled at his cuteness. Her eyes widened. _Wait! What! Smiled! Cuteness? Why am I thinking such things? Why does he make me… happy?_ Abruptly Gaara wished to be as far as possible from the blonde named Naruto. She turned around silently signaling her siblings to leave. And with that she turned on her heel and jumped away, her siblings close behind her. She only left one thing back there and it was what was that smell coming from the kid named Naruto?


	4. First exam

Chapter 3: first exam

"It's not cheating unless you get caught and if you get caught lie through your teeth."

As Gaara fell back behind her siblings to let them lead her to where Baki said they were to meet up, she pondered the blonde boy Naruto.

_Why is it that when our eyes connected it was like we had a bond, something similar, yet different?_

She looked up when she realized her siblings had stopped and were now looking at her with cautious yet worried glances.

With a brave run of courage Temari asked, her being the oldest and a girl she felt the most connection to her little sister, enough that she was the one to always try and be nice to Gaara, "why do you seem so… distracted? Is it that blonde boy? Because if it is we can always just kill hi-"

At her words Gaara felt rage well up in her chest. She didn't want Naruto dead… she wanted to… know more of him.

"Neither of you will lay a finger on him!" she said in sudden venom. Her siblings looked at her in shock, never had she ever try and defend someone other than herself. They quickly came to the assumption that she just wanted her prey all to herself and let it go.

As the days passed Gaara got ready for the exams, trying and failing miserably to forget all about the loud blonde.

~Day of exam

_When the first exam comes along he just needs to make his presence known and gain a classroom full of enemies. __Great._ Gaara thought sarcastically; _now I need to protect him from all these pe- What am I thinking! I don't need to protect_ anyone! She thought trying to reassert her lifelong promise to only love herself.

Gaara shook her head as if to shake the thoughts off of her like a dog shaking off water.

"Hey Gaara are you okay?" Temari asked sounding genuinely worried for her. In response Gaara 'hnmed' and crossed her arms looking away from the commotion the leaf Genin were causing. Trying to avoid looking at the odd blonde boy, Naruto.

If she were anyone else she would've jumped when a loud voice bellowed out "That's enough brats! Take your seat and get ready to take the written part of the exam!" she heard many people grumble about how this was unfair that it was supposed to be a test of power not intellect.

As Gaara listened to the man explain the rules she realized he was telling them to cheat; just not get caught. Gaara smirked _this is easy; too easy._

"BEGIN!" Shouted the instructor. As soon as that word left the examiner's mouth Gaara quickly and silently formed the correct hand signs for her jutsu. _Third eye!_ She covered her left eye with her fingers and held out her other hand, soon a brown eye formed in her palm and when she was sure the connection was secure to her sense of sightshe crushed the eye letting the particles drift to the Genin in front of her who was busy scribbling away on the paper. Some of the sand drifted into his eye creating a distraction so her third eye could form and quickly scan over the answers he had already written.

Ten minutes into the exam her pencil was put down; she was finished. She scanned the room spotting many unique cheating techniques. But when her eyes landed on the one boy she was looking for she realized something; he wasn't going to pass. The only thing on his test paper other than the questions was his name; Naruto Uzumaki. _Baka _she thought scornfully, _if you don't cheat you won't pass! And then I won't… won't what? Why don't I want him to fail?_ She was quickly brought out of her musings at the sound of a kunai sinking into wood very close to Naruto. Before she could even think her sand was floating around in invisible particles ready to stop anything that got too close to her… or Naruto.

She was confused when she felt the sand's intentions, never had it wanted to protect anything other than herself. What was it about this blonde baka? She looked back at the blonde boy wishing for the first time in a long time she could do something to help another. She looked at her answers then her sand then his blank exam paper. She sighed realizing it was the only way to help him.

She sent a strand of sand towards him, hoping it would work.

Naruto's POV

At first he thought it was nothing more than dust and so he brushed it off, or tried to, no matter how hard he tried to get it off his paper the sand stayed firmly in place. He almost considered prying it off with a Kunai when it finally got through to his thick skull that it wasn't going anywhere. He decided to look at it carefully and he realized it was the answers engraved in sand on his paper. He looked behind him to seek out the only person he knew that could control the sand. When he spotted the beautiful red headed girl he had no way of telling if she was giving him the answers or not for she had her arms crossed and her head turned away from him as if she were a child that was refusing to look at someone when embarassed.

When they had first locked eyes he knew there was something different about that girl, she was full of pain and hate and yet she had the innocence of a six year old, like she stopped maturing at that age, her emotions locked up and frozen in place by a terrible traumatizing event. He felt a connection to the girl even if they had just met.

Not wanting to seem rude he quickly wrote the answers down on his paper. He sighed and cracked his knuckles when he finished, he looked down at the pile of sand and suddenly got an idea. He flattened the pile out and wrote thank you into the sand, he looked at the redhead to see her reaction. For the fraction of a second her eyes flashed to him, she seemed surprised that he would thank her. For a second the sand tightened around his finger, not a bone crushing tight, but like a comforting hug; then it floated back to its master looking very unhappy about having to leave him. He smiled at the girl who was still stoically looking away from him, her head turned the other way; but he could've sworn he saw the flash of a smile in her reflection on the window.

Gaara's POV

She felt pleased that was the first time in her life that she could remember that someone had actually thanked her. All her life all she had ever received was either fear or hatred. When Naruto had written thank you into the sand it had come as a surprise to her seeing as she had never expected a reply. She felt him slowly worm his way through her stone cold heart; she needed to get away from him, and fast before she grew attached to him and became distracted from her promise to herself. _I'll just have to kill him in the next exam._

**No! Don't kill him! If you do you'll never know hap- **Just as quickly as it had come the demon inside of her clamped its mouth shut as if trying to stop itself from spilling too much information.

_What were you going to say?_ Questioned Gaara. She received no answer just tight lipped silence from the demon. _Tell me! What won't I get if I kill him?_

**Like I said kid, you need to figure it out for yourself. **Gaara felt anger boil inside of her at the elusive answer; she never liked being kept in the dark.

**Look kid, even though I may seem like a heartless, bloodthirsty demon, I still care for my host and one day I'll make it up to you for ruining your life.** And with that the demon fell silent, leaving many more questions unanswered.

"Pencils down!" ordered the examiner. "It's time for the tenth question." At that point in walked her brother Kankuro; she hadn't even noticed his absence. "Nice timing, was your doll playing spy?" She smirked when she realized Kankuro had been caught using his puppets to cheat. He looked shocked but sat down at his seat anyways. "Okay; but before we start the last question I need to explain the rules of desperation. First off you need to choose whether or not you want to take the last question…" He paused when people started to ask why they would need a choice. The examiner grinned maliciously at them and explained. "If you decide the take the question and get it incorrect you will lose the right to take the Chunin exams ever again, and will be a Genin for the rest of your life!" he finished menacingly. "But…" he continued on a lighter tone. "If you don't take the question you can always try the next Chunin exam." He let everyone digest these words and one by one people raised their hands, numbers were called, not wanting to take the risk many Genins left.

Gaara never even considered leaving; she and her siblings were on a mission, and it could not be ruined by someone being a coward. She knew that if one of her siblings raised their hands she would not hesitate to either cut the hand off or kill the person. But something completely unexpected happened, Naruto raised his hand.

_I knew it his bark was bigger than his bite. He really is a- _Gaara's trail of thoughts are cut off when Naruto slams his hand down onto his desk.

"Don't underestimate me! I won't run! I'll take it! Even if I'm a Genin forever I'll will myself to become Hokage! I an not afraid!" Naruto finished, he looked determined ready to take on anything that they threw at him. Gaara had to admit his speech was a bit inspiring she felt as if nothing could stand in her way as long as she had Naruto by her si- _Not again!_ She quickly shut out any thoughts about the blonde baka. It was very confusing for her; she had never felt these feelings before; they scared her.

The examiner paused once more to see if anyone else would leave "This is your last chance, your life is depending on this." Naruto took this as a challenge and replied "I never go back on my word; that's my ninja way." and when no one left he said something nobody was expecting… "You all passed."

"What do you mean we pass? What about the tenth question?" asked a random Genin.

"You already answered it, it was a do or don't question and all of you answered it correctly by not leaving even though you were uncertain of the outcome. You cannot always avoid the uncertain and dangerous."

"Then what about the first nine questions?" Temari questioned, frustrated that she had been tricked.

"No those were to test your ability to gather information, the purpose was to cheat and not get caught." Replied the examiner.

Naruto, trying not to look foolish, and failing miserably, laughed and rubbed the back of his head "I knew that! You'd have to be a moron not to notice it!" he exclaimed. A few people chucked at his reply, seeing as they all knew full well that he hadn't had a clue.

"Sometimes information is more important than your life." He said gruffly pulling his Konoha headband that had been covering his head. Some of the Genin gasped at the sight of his bare head. It was covered with gruesome scars and holes. **No wonder he covers his head! Oh I wish I was the one able to do that torture, the screams and blood, oh what music.** Gaara ignored the demon. She looked at the examiner's head and shrugged she had seen worse.

"If you don't have the ability to be courageous, and ready to face hardships, then you'll never be a Chunin. That's how I feel! But you answered it correctly; I wish you luck for the rest of the exam." The examiner looked at them proudly as if they were his own students.

Gaara heard a whooshing sound come from outside the window seconds before it shattered and a bundle flew through it. The bundle unwrapped and four kunai were thrown to the walls to support the banner that the bundle was revealed to be. It said 'second examiner Anko Mitarashi!'

A woman with purple hair yelled out "Alright maggots! This is no time to be celebrating! Let's go! Follow me!"

_Is it just me or does this examiner seems to have the same personality of Naruto?_ Gaara questioned to herself, not asking it aloud.

**You can say that again, though she seems more… sadistic. **Shukaku replies.

"Bad timing." Says the first examiner peeking past the banner that had blocked him from sight. Anko, the second examiner scanned the room. "26 teams?!" she exclaimed incredulously. "You let 26 teams pass? You've been too easy on them." She says scolding the second examiner.

"There are lots of outstanding Genins in this group." He retorts.

"Ah; that's fine. I'll cut them in half in the second exam." She says nonchalantly, smiling cruelly at the confused Genin.

_Great. _Gaara thought._ The next test seems very interesting._

**Gaaraaaaaa!** Sang a sickly sweet voice in her head. **I'm hungry.** The demon said sadistically. Gaara felt a sliver of blood lust work its way into her mind. The demon was influencing her feelings again. She'd need to kill soon.

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**Sorry for the wait. Something was wrong with my computer and I couldn't get on the internet.**

**~Tigerlily**


	5. Forest of Deah Part I

Chapter 4: The Forest of Death

Gaara looked at the forest of death; she was impressed. The trees were ancient looking and were at least 30ft in diameter. The forest was surrounded by a fence with signs posted along it saying 'Danger! Stay out!' Gaara had lived in a desert all her life so this much vegetation was amazing.

Many sounds came from the forest, from birds to the sounds of giant snakes slithering. All in all it was quite a majestic sight, but it was all wasted on Gaara because she was too busy fighting a mental war with Shukaku to look at the scenery.

She was jolted out of the mental battle by a loud voice shouting out "That won't scare me!"

She saw Naruto look angrily at the examiner of the second exam. Anko grinned at him. _Is it just me or does that grin make her look like a snake eyeing its prey?_ She asked shukaku, not expecting a reply. So she was surprised when she received a gruff reply from the demon. **Nope, you're right. It does make her look like a snake; a hungry one at that.** Apparently Naruto's voice had momentarily pulled it out of its blood lusting stupor. But the moment was quickly over and the good mode was replaced by a raging anger by the sight in front of her.

The examiner had thrown a kunai at Naruto and it had scrapped the side of his whiskered cheek letting a line of blood flow down his face. The sand from Gaara's gourd vibrated and some particles of sand that had escaped the gourd and floated in the air in a defensive yet threatening manner. The examiner flash stepped behind Naruto and held a kunai to his throat.

"Brats like you are the first to… die." She whispered into his ear. Even though they were a few yards away, Gaara's superior hearing picked up every word the examiner uttered, even the small gulp Naruto had made at the threat. That was the last straw; Gaara's sand sped towards the examiner making a slight swishing noise as it flew through the air.

Unfortunately and fortunately the examiner heard it and quickly jumped away from Naruto. Gaara wasn't sure if she was relieved that she had dodged and didn't need to face the repercussions of killing an allied ninja or angered that she hadn't been killed for what she had done to Naruto. _Wait why am I thinking of Naruto!_

**Let me spill her blood! We should crush her until only dust is let! She hurt him our-** the demons' ranting was cut short by a hand being placed on her shoulder.

Anko's POV

She looked towards the direction the sand had come from, noticing a young redheaded girl. She had one pale hand to her head as if it were causing her pain; and the other outstretched in front of her controlling the movements of the sand. There were two Genins standing slightly behind her, probably her team, they looked half scared and half worried at their last member's actions. She looked at the loudmouth blonde she had scared and saw that he was unexpectedly alive. The sand was floating in the air an inch from his face. _That was a close call._ Anko thought. _Oh well, might as well start the instructions. This is going to be fun. _She thought wickedly.

Naruto's POV

Naruto looked at the sand floating in front of his face and noticed that it had a reddish tan color to it. He inhaled and almost immediately chocked on the smell permeating the air. It smelled heavily of a metallic scent; the smell of old, dried blood, and lots of it. He looked at the girl controlling the sand and noticed she looked in pain, with one hand painfully gripping her head. His friendly nature got the better of him and he cautiously walked over to her. Even though he received fierce glares from her teammates standing behind her he placed his hand on her shoulder in a comforting way and asked "Hey are you okay?!" He said the last part in exclamation as a wisp of sand lashed out at him. But when Gaara registered that it was his voice the sand stopped abruptly. Then slowly, hesitantly it moved forward and caressed the space above his cut. After a slight flinch from surprise, he relaxed realizing the feeling of the rough, warm sand rubbing against his cheek wasn't unpleasant, in fact it was quite pleasurable. He closed his eyes and let out a sigh of contentment. The sand froze at if surprised by the sound; but it quickly resumed its ministrations.

The sound of someone nervously clearing their throat pulled him out of his moment of bliss. At first he looked down at the beautiful girl that had been controlling the sand. There was a light blush dusting her cheeks, but it quickly vanished as she turned towards the sound glaring viciously at the girl with four sandy blonde pony tails who had cleared her throat moments ago. She looked disturbed at the scene that had played before her seconds ago.

Temaris' POV

Temari glared at the blonde boy who walked up to her youngest and most dangerous sibling. To anyone else looking into her eyes they would clearly see the warning in them 'Stay away if you value your life.' But the blonde boy remained oblivious to her silent warning. He walked straight up to her sister and placed his hand on her shoulder and asked "Hey are you okay!?" she flinched and closed her eyes expecting a blood curdling scream to erupt from the boy. Seconds passed and nothing happened. She opened one eye slowly and saw the strangest scene in front of her. She blinked and rubbed her eyes, but it was still there. The sand, instead of attacking the blonde boy as expected, it was softly caressing his face. It wasn't even soaking up the blood that dribbled down his face, as if the bloodlust was forgotten.

She shook her head; that would never happen. She knew the demon inside of her sister always demanded blood. The boy closed his eyes and a breath of pleasure escaped his lips. The sand stopped and Gaara tensed as if expecting him to lash out and try to hurt her. But when he didn't she relaxed her shoulders and continued to let the sand rub his face. Her expression softened as she looked upon the scene.

To say Temari was surprised was an understatement. The only time her sister had shown any emotion other than anger and bloodlust was before her uncle attempted to assassinate her. And even then her emotions never had caring and… love? No she was imagining things. Her sister didn't even possess that emotion. Even through all those faults Temari still loved her sister and wanted to see her happy, but at the moment they were on an important mission. If it went according to plan they could bring the boy back home to Suna for Gaara; if of course that was what she wanted.

Temari tore her eyes away from the heartwarming scene to see that the examiner had already started to explain the rules. They were standing in the back so no one noticed the scene except for Kankuro who was dutifully listening to the examiner, but every once in a while he would glance at them out of the corner of his eye. He looked as if seeing the two Genins interact would crush his hate and fear for the animal he called a sibling. Even Temari had a bit of trouble thinking the girl in front of her was really her cruel and bloodthirsty sister. She cleared her throat nervously; immediately the blonde opened his eyes. He looked down at Gaara his expression soft, but it was ruined when Gaara turned to glare murderously at her. She felt a shiver of fear go up her spine from the full force of her sisters' glare; the promise of death clearly showing. Naruto followed Gaaras' glare and saw that it was Temari that had interrupted them; a look of pure annoyance was plastered onto his young face. Looking for an excuse Temari motioned for him to look around. He whipped his head back to look at the large crowd listening to the examiner… or what was left of it.

While Naruto and Gaara had been distracted the examiner, Anko, had finished her monologue of the rules and the crowd had wandered off to sign a form. No one was standing in the clearing in front of the gate anymore. Even Narutos' teammates had left to collect their scroll. Naruto looked back at Temari, his look of annoyance replaced by a sheepish look of thanks. He rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment at what he had done, so openly too. "Um…Well thanks for the heads up. I'll just go looking for my team now." Naruto muttered lamely. Casting Gaara one more strange look he turned around and ran up tothe gate where his other teammates stood. They gave him inquisitive looks. But before they could ask anything the intercom crackled and a voice sounded "the gates will open in 3…2…1…" the gates swung wide open and everyone scattered into the trees. The second test had begun.

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**just so all my readers know I'm fixing up my story; because like some of you said, my beginning was weak. anyway, enjoy! :)**

**-tigerlily**


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